MGMT are back with “Nothing To Declare,” the latest preview of their forthcoming album Loss of Life. Watch the song’s accompanying music video below.
Built from a folky guitar arpeggio, the song combines the naturalistic, acoustic hues of previous singles “Bubblegum Dog” and “Mother Nature” with the shimmering psychedelia they’re predominately known for. Unlike Loss of Life‘s other singles, however, “Nothing To Declare” doesn’t bubble up and burst into a flurry of activity — instead, the track blooms gently, with light flourishes of synths and percussion creating a sincere, cinematic feel.
“Nothing To Declare,” as one might say when arriving in a new country, is fittingly accompanied by a music video that features social media influencer and disability awareness activist Inga Petry taking a trip to Paris. Petry, who was born with upper limb aplasia, makes her way through various tourist attractions throughout the city, eventually landing on the sculpture of the Venus de Milo at the Louvre. Watch it below.
Of the video, director Joey Frank said in a statement that after discovering Petry’s TikToks, he was inspired to depict her as if she was the star of a foreign film. “A certain brand of 1990’s European independent cinema typified by the Dardenne brothers always essentially follows a human navigating through life. Inga has been armless all her life, which lends a different kind of vulnerability to the simple narrative of a self possessed young woman traveling from Pittsburgh to Paris,” Frank said. “In real life, Inga puts herself online in a very candid way on TikTok, but the ‘Nothing To Declare’ MGMT music video plays on the aesthetics of independent cinema to allow the audience a different sort of emotional fictive space with Inga as ingenue.”
“Nothing To Declare” serves as the third single off MGMT’s Loss of Life, following previous singles “Bubblegum Dog” and “Mother Nature.” The album, produced by the band and Patrick Wimberly, is out everywhere on February 23rd.
